chasfh

I hope Cleveland lose and get annoyed at backing into winning the division on a technicality, since they'd be tied at the top of the standings with us.

I wish we had shown more urgency to score runs, win the game, win the division, and play the wild card series at home. I guess AJ thought it was better to fully rest those guys for Tuesday, and show some trust in the guys already on the field. I kind of get it, and it almost came close to working. It's a bummer, but lemonade, we did sweep Houston on the road in the wild card last year.

Catching a break on the Ibanez grounder, first and second one out. Come on, Jake ****ing Rogers?? He better bring a guy in. EDIT: At least he didn't hit into another double play.

Down eight or more. Up, not at all.

I'm down with that idea. Can we get special dispensation from Baseball on this?

If we're still down only a run in the ninth, we have got to send up Tork and/or Gleyber and/or Dingler to pinch-hit.

I posted this yesterday and you replied to it!

So are we finally done with Jake Rogers and we can put that idiotic trade to bed?

104 pitches in 4-2/3 innings in Paddack's final appearance as a Tiger. Shades of Rich Harden ...

And a 2-run shot off Paddack ties the game. The past minute has really sucked.

He may single-handedly win the division for us at the end here.

They’re sitting their regulars, too?

Your keyboard to God’s inbox.

Where: Fenway Park, Boston MA Listen: WWJ AM 950/WXYT-FM 97.1-HD2 Watch: FDSNDT; NESN; MLB.tv ($) Game Time Forecast: 82 degrees; winds W at 12 and expected to decrease very slightly during the game; 0% precipitation. Starting Pitchers: Detroit: Chris Paddack (5-11, 5.27 ERA; 107 K); Boston: TBD

I hope I didn’t kill Ray with my Benetti apostasy.

Doesn't break my heart ...

Holy ****, a walkoff HBP

Great game in Cleveland right now. 2-2 going into the ninth.

Hey, if people love it, that's fine. I don't. To each their own. But just because I don't like it doesn't mean I'm not sophisticated enough to understand it. I get why he's doing it. I just hope that the next guy is more dedicated to the team and its 162- (or 154-, whatever they end up deciding after expansion) game season. Just a personal preference. I acknowledged upfront that I might be on an island with this one. We all know how forums work—we bring up all kinds of important and unimportant things.

I said in the original post about this that I understood the contract.

No, I don’t hold it against the guy at all. Everyone should strive for their maximum potential. I would never want to pigeonhole him to stay in Detroit forever if that’s what he didn’t want. But that also doesn’t mean I have to love his bugging out on the team for arguably the most important game of the year. I’d like a guy who’s here and committed to the team 162 games a year, or as close to that as health and dire family situations will allow. Someone like … I don’t know … Ernie Harwell? Or Dan Dickerson. I don’t mind at all that Benetti has ambition beyond Detroit. Most people probably would. But to me, bugging out on the Tigers on their clinch day is really no better than Matt Shaw bugging out on the Cubs when he did that, underlying circumstances notwithstanding.

This may be an unpopular opinion—or maybe not, we’ll see—but I’m actually glad Jason Benetti wasn’t here to call the game that clinched the playoff spot for us. Yeah, I know what Benetti’s contract says, what it allows him to do, but to still take off for such an important game shows just what it all means to him. He’s not a Tigers guy. He’s not an ambassador for the team. He’s not one of us. He’s a mercenary, here only because we were the first team to call after he got run out of town by his hometown team, and he’s obviously gunning for a 100% national career. And he’s good at announcing, really good at it, so he’s going to get that all-national job, whether it’s next year, or the year after, or the year after that. But it will be sooner than later. And when he does get it, he will bolt with pleasure, and then Detroit will be as much of a blip on his career radar as Detroit is on Howard Stern’s. Benetti can stay in West Virginia tomorrow, too, for all I care.

Yes, that is right. Magic number is 2.

Yep, that’s who A.J. takes his orders from! 😂

I really like seeing the personalities in the clubhouse. I don’t live in Detroit and don’t really see the guys interviewed much during the season, so this is kind of a treat.